Video Transcript for Yakima GateKeeper Tailgate Pad Review - 2023 Chevrolet Colorado

Hi. Matt with etrailer. Today we're gonna talk about the Yakima Tailgate Pad on the back of the 2023 Chevrolet Colorado. Now, this is gonna be a great option for you if you want something at that entry level price and something that's gonna be able to organize and keep your bikes secured on the back of your Colorado. Now, it's also gonna be a great option for you if you don't wanna invest in getting a hitch, or you wanna use your hitch for something else and you don't wanna get that bike rack too. It's gonna be really easy to use.

So let's take a closer look at it. So today we have a small frame bike in the back of here and we also have a tonneau cover. And as you can see, it barely fits in here. We have about an inch to spare, so keep that in mind if you do have tonneau cover that you can't remove, you might not be able to get some of your larger bikes back here. But the way our bike is gonna sit on here, it's gonna sit directly on the pad just with its frame making contact, and we're gonna have this strap that goes across, only making one point of contact.

So since we are sitting this on its frame, I don't recommend using any carbon frame bikes. Another thing to add to that, if you have any really heavy bikes like an e-bike, I wouldn't recommend that too unless you're a stronger person, because it's gonna be a pain lifting up that high. And on the front side, you're just gonna have your forks resting in the front of it, and the front of your wheel might kind of block some of your taillight too. That's something else to keep in mind, if you're on some really bumpy roads, this might bounce around a little bit and it could make contact with your taillight, just depending on how you put it on here. And if you look at this, depending on the size of your wheels, might kind of dictate how many bikes you can get on here too.

On the back, we're gonna have five points where you can put five different bikes on, but depending on the size of your bikes and the size of their wheels, they might interfere with one another. Now to take a closer look at the tailgate pad, lastly you're gonna have to take off the bike, and it's really straightforward. All you have to do is loosen up one of these straps, and once it's loosened up, you can take this clamp out or this hook out, and just lift up on the bike. And this is one of those reasons why I recommend getting a regular bike and not an e-bike, because that's gonna be a heavy lift. With your bike off, you can take it for a ride.

Then taking a closer look at it, we're gonna have this flap on the front, and we just have to pull on that to take it off, and it's gonna be secured down by three different points. We're gonna have these two grommets, and then we're gonna have this hook and loop system on it too. And it's also really nice, because it has this nice felt material so it won't scratch up anything underneath. But now we're gonna open up our tailgate and take a closer look at the other side. As you can see, we do have those five points to hook down to. And underneath those straps, you can take a closer look at that padding. That padding is gonna be pretty thick, and it's gonna be kind of designed to fit your frame in the center. And down below, we're also gonna have three straps that go around to the other side. And all you have to do to tighten them down is just pull on it. So that's really nice too, because it's gonna be really easy to take off. And the last thing on this side that I really like about this one in particular is it has this hole, and that eyelet there. It's gonna be great for if you have any cable locks with you or chains with you, if you wanna secure this down so no one can take it off. And you're gonna have plenty of great tie-down points, either being these two eyelets here, or on the other side too. Now how it's gonna interact back here is it's really only gonna block your backup camera. And as you can see here, this flap doesn't secure down anyway. So if you're not riding with any bikes on, that's one of the downfalls with this. With a lot of other tailgate pads, you can secure this down as you're driving without your bikes on, where you can still use that backup camera. But everything else, that being your back window, tail lights and license plates, won't be obstructed by this, unlike a lot of bike racks. Now, for the overall texture and color, we're gonna have this blue design to it, and it's gonna have these mount seeds and the Yakima symbol on it. I'm not a big fan of this design or color on our truck today. Now, if you're not a big fan of that either, you can go on our website and find this in a black version too. Our pad's gonna be constructed from nylon material, and what that's gonna do is make it more weather resistant, but also it's gonna make it more scratch resistant too. So that's great for when you do go out riding and you have a lot of rocks and dirt stuck on your tires, there's gonna be less likely to scratch up your pad when you put them on here. Overall, this will be a great option for you if you're looking at hauling your bikes in a secure fashion and you don't want to throw them in the back of your bed where they can get a little messy, or kind of just scratched up. This is gonna hold them upright and make them look good too. And it's also gonna be great if you don't wanna invest in getting a hitch bike rack system on the back of your vehicle, because one, they can be more expensive, and two, if you want to use your hitch for something else, that's gonna take that away from you. But if you liked everything you saw today, that's just a look at the Yakima Tailgate Pad on the back of our 2023 Chevrolet Colorado.